You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May, 2009.
What’s a barbecue with coleslaw? I don’t mean that horrible, cloying, mayo laden shop bought variety, I mean the fresh crunchy homemade variety. I like mine best because it takes on a beautiful pinky-purple colour from the red cabbage and red onion, which is pleasing to the eye if nothing else. I don’t like mine swimming in mayonnaise, just a fine coating to keep it moist and I love the subtle sweetness the apple brings. To make sweeter still add a few raisins. This recipe will make a big plastic tub full, either to feed a crowd at a party, or to last two or you three or four days.
Crunchy purple coleslaw
Rough guide
½ a small head of red cabbage, finely sliced.
1 medium red onion, finely sliced.
1 large carrot, grated (or two medium carrots)
1 eating apple, grated
Put all the ingredients into a large bowl, spritz with the juice of about half a small lemon, season with salt and pepper and dollop on a couple of tablespoons of good quality shop bought mayonnaise (or more to your taste). Mix thoroughly and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.
Also for a more impressive potato salad, take these tips from Jamie Oliver. Boil or steam some new potatoes and while warm pour on them some olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning and leave to cool. To dress mix lemon zest and fresh chopped chives with some natural yogurt (best not to use fat free as it is too thin), season and stir into the potatoes. The potato salad is even more delicious sprinkled with some cold snipped up crispy bacon pieces. Just these two little homemade side dishes elevates any barbecue without barely any effort.
I was sent a shocking press release at work yesterday. It came from the new Eat Seasonably Campaign and it said that one in five 16-25 year olds think cauliflower grows under the ground! Worse still a quarter of 16-24 think peas are in season all year round and one in five of the same age group think sweetcorn grows all year round.
Photo from www.eatseasonably.co.uk
I think we have a big divide in the food world. At the moment we have a food revolution going on with artisan producers popping up everywhere, allotment waiting lists growing longer and longer and more awareness of animal welfare. But at the same time there is another food revolution going on. Thousands of people are finding ever more cheaper ways to feed themselves with fat laden take-aways and salty microwave meals, imported cheap vegetables and battery farmed meat.
How has it come to this? I can understand that the pressure is on families during the recession, but it is all down to education. Teaching people that using fresh seasonal ingredients when they are abundant and using a better quality of meat in smaller quantities is essential.
The Eat Seasonably Campaign, which was spearheaded by Dame Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust and Chairman of B&Q Ian Cheshire, is backed by top chefs such as Angela Hartnett, Allegra McEvedy, Valentine Warner, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, as well as Defra secretary of state Hilary Benn, the RHS and all the major supermarkets.
Eat seasonably logo
The campaign has introduced a label which will be used to highlight seasonal fruit and vegetables where they are sold. This surely is an excellent idea and I hope it helps the situation. If it was clearly marked out for people they might be tempted into trying out seasonal produce. I really hope it works. Check out the campaign’s website, http://www.eatseasonably.co.uk it includes lots of advice for growing and eating seasonally.
We are currently coming to the end of what organic vegetable box suppliers Riverford aptly call ‘the hungry gap’. It is the time between March and May when the stored fruit and vegetables have run out and the new plants haven’t grown enough to pick. Inevitably that has meant the boxes have had to include some imported vegetables to make up for the shortfall.
Vegetable curry with cauliflower
There is one vegetable, however, that defies the hungry gap (apart from the welcome edition of purple sprouting broccoli throughout February and March) and that is cauliflower. Great you might think – a home grown vegetable to enjoy through the months before spring really springs into life.
Not for me though. When I decided to start ordering a vegetable box I was fully aware you have to accept what you are given and I said to Will that will be fine because I love nearly all vegetables except for cauliflower – and as soon as I said the dreaded word they started to arrive, and they continued to arrive four weeks in a row!
I don’t know what it is about cauliflower. I think it might be more of a psychological thing rather than a complete aversion to the taste. The smell of it cooking reminds me of being 10 years old and desperately thinking of ways to get out of eating dinner when a cauliflower cheese was bubbling away in the oven – to this day you will not get me to eat a cauliflower cheese.
But I am a firm believer that you can learn to love any food if you give it a chance, and if you cook it in a sympathetic way. So during those four long weeks I tried cauliflower every which way – in soups, as a side, in spicy frittas and in creamy curries – and do you know what, I don’t mind cauliflower that much anymore, in fact I quite like it in a spicy vegetable curry. I actually cooked the vegetable curry three times it was so tasty. So below I give you my mish-mash recipe for a probably very not authentic vegetable curry for all those cauliflower haters out there.
This recipe makes more than two portions but reheats really well the next day for lunch left-overs. Use whatever you have in the house to go with it, I find you need a sweetish vegetable like sweet potato or squash in there though to balance the flavours.
½ a cauliflower cut into florets
1 sweet potato cut into small square chunks
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 or 2 carrots, depending on their size cut into equal sized chunks to the potato
½ can of chickpeas
½ can of coconut milk
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 green chilli finely chopped
2 large tablespoons of Pataks tikka masala curry paste
A small knob of ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped.
Plus, fresh natural yogurt, fresh coriander leaves and ½ a lemon to serve.
1. Heat some vegetable oil in a large heavy based saucepan. Cook the onion until it starts to soften, then add the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for a minute, then add the curry paste and cook for a few minutes until it releases its smells and flavours.
2. Add your vegetables and coat them in the flavour then add the chopped tomatoes, fill the can about a quarter of the way up with water, swirl it around to get all the flavour out of the can and add to the pot. Finally add the coconut milk, stir and put the lid on and let it cook on a gentle simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring every now and then. The only way to know if this is done is to stick a knife in the vegetables to see if they are soft. The carrots are likely to cook last out of the lot. Depending on how big you have cut the carrot and sweet potato you might want to add the cauliflower into the pot 10 minutes after them so it doesn’t go soggy. When the vegetables are more or less cooked add the chickpeas and warm through (at this stage you could also add a handful or two of frozen peas for colour).
3. Serve with plain rice, dollop some natural yogurt on the top (this cuts through the richness of the dish), sprinkle over coriander leaves and serve with a wedge of lemon.
(You will be left with half a can of coconut milk. Either use in a smoothie the next morning, it goes well with pineapple and mango. Or pour into ice-cube trays and once they are frozen pop into a bag and store until you make another curry when you just drop the cubes into the pot and they defrost into a sauce. Use the half can of chickpeas to make a small pot of hummus for your lunch the next day by putting them into a food processor with some lemon juice, olive oil, half a clove of garlic, tahini paste and seasoning then blitzing. The curry paste keeps brilliantly in your cupboard for months, no need to even refrigerate)
I simply cannot convey to you quickly enough just how delicious this cake is. It is rich, smooth, soggy, gooey and moist, yet light and zesty. But it came about in an unusual way.
Delicious chocolate orange cake
I had been having some problems with my stomach and the doctor advised that I try singling out foods in my diet that might be causing the problem. Willing to try anything and having read a lot about stomach problems and gluten intolerance I thought I’d try going a few weeks with wheat or gluten. At first I found it hugely restricting, especially when I realised I couldn’t even have a beer! But after a few days I found it enjoyable in a strange way, because from a keen cook’s point of view it forces you to push the boundaries. You can’t just say I’ll grab a sandwich or a wrap for lunch and you can’t rely on pre-made shop bought soups, sauces, cakes or biscuits so everything needs to be cooked from scratch.
Although I found my few weeks without wheat to have helped stop the bloating in the stomach I concluded it wasn’t the cause of my problems and happily reintroduced it into my diet (how did I live without crusty bread?!) But during the wheat-free weeks me and Will held a barbecue for his work mates (see post below) and I wanted to make a couple of desserts – one of which I would be able to eat despite not allowing myself gluten.
I used a recipe of Nigella’s that I had tried before for a ‘spiced chocolate cake’, which is in her Nigella Christmas book. I tinkered with the recipe to create a more summery chocolate cake, using orange instead of the spices, and it was a delight (Will told me his mates were talking about it for days after and one person has already asked for the recipe!). It also keeps really well and I was enjoying the left-overs for days after!
This is a perfect dessert for both the gluten intolerant but equally as delicious for all their friends. I urge everyone to give it a go.
Makes 10-12 slices
150g dark chocolate (70 percent cocoa solids)
150g soft, unsalted butter
6 large eggs
250g caster sugar
100g almonds
Zest of one large orange
4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
For the almond topping:
Juice of an half an orange
15g unsalted butter
1tbsp caster sugar
50 flaked almonds
1. Take everything you need out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees (gas 4) and butter a 23cm springform cake tin.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter together on a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water and set aside to cool slightly.
4. Beat the eggs and sugar together until thick, pale and moussy. They should have at least doubled in volume or more. Gently fold in the ground almonds, the orange juice and zest, taking care not to lose any of the air in the mix.
5. Finally pour in the slightly cooled chocolate mix and stir in lightly. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 40 minutes, but which time the cake will be firm on top and still a little gooey underneath. It will rise right up in the oven and sink when it cools – don’t worry this should happen.
6.To make the topping put the orange juice, butter and sugar into a small non-stick frying pan and melt everything together. Let it sizzle for a minute or so until it begins to caramelise before adding the almonds. Stir everything together until the nuts start to bronze, tip the pan about every now and then to stop them sticking together. Remove and put on an oiled piece of greaseproof paper and allow to cool and go crispy.
7.Remove the outside of the cake tin, and the bottom of it if you can – I didn’t dare move mine and served it with the cake tin still on the bottom. Allow to coo fully. Scatter with the almonds and more orange zest. Serve with a dollop of whipped double cream.
A couple of weekends ago Will and I hosted our first proper barbeque of the year on a sunny spring Saturday. I was faced with a house of hungry police officers – a daunting thought to say the least – but luckily I had more than enough food. As always you end up over-catering for fear of not having enough. Imagine finishing a meal and seeing someone picking carefully but desperately around the last chicken leg trying to find some more meat on it – I couldn’t bare it!
My crammed fridge hours before the barbecue
I have to say it was a real success though. As young new-comers to the dinner party scene, we planned everything down to the last detail and spent the whole day cleaning the house, shopping then preparing food.
I kept it simple and went for chicken drumsticks in a barbecue marinade, ribs (brought along buy a guest) in a sticky barbecue sauce and Greek lamb kebabs with pitta bread and Tzatziki. These went down a storm with the hungry meat-eaters.
For the lamb kebabs: marinate lamb leg steaks in olive oil, salt, pepper, a pinch of dried oregano and a squeeze of lemon juice for about an hour. Instead of cutting into cubes and skewering I leave the steaks whole so I can barbecue them quickly over very hot flames and keep them pink inside (if they are in small cubes on a skewer they can dry out very quickly). I then let them rest, slice and pile up the juicy pink pieces of meat on a warm plate for people to tuck into.
Alongside the piles of meat I served a classic homemade coleslaw (a mix of thinly shredded cabbage, carrot, red onion and grated apple dressed in mayonnaise and lemon juice), potato salad (dressed in natural yogurt with lemon zest and seasoning, chopped chives and then topped with crispy pieces of bacon) plus bowls of salad an lots of crunchy bread.
The desserts were the real stars of the show, a deliciously creamy vanilla baked cheesecake (which I have posted the recipe for on a previous post) with a bowl of fresh raspberry sauce, mini pavlovas and a gorgeously gooey soggy chocolate orange cake (look out for my next post for the recipe), which was a take on a Nigella Christmas recipe that I fiddled with. Apparently they were all talking about the dessert at the station the next day – result!
At the end of the day as long as there is a good supply of cold beers, soft drinks and wine you’re on to a winner. Barbecues need to be relaxed and stress free. Minimal use of cutlery is a good tip (we used plastic plates to cut down on washing up). Most people managed with just a fork and their hands. Now we just have to wait for another sunny weekend to have another go.
